Category: LeBreton Flats

LeBreton Flats, LRT, NCC, Ottawa, Western LRT8 Comments

How intrusive will WLRT wiring be along the parkway?

Westsideaction

On a recent visit to Toronto, I made a point of noticing overhead electric wiring for streetcars. My general memory of streetcar wiring was situations like the one pictured above, a spagetti heap of wiring over an intersection. Of course, such situations occur when different streetcar lines meet. And for the Ottawa case, the LRT is a single line with no branches or loops or turnoffs, so wiring situations like the above just won’t be here [yes, there will be a spur line off to the maintenance yard, and in a few cases parallel tracks to store trains, but these … Continue reading How intrusive will WLRT wiring be along the parkway?

505 Preston, Carling-Preston CDP, Claridge, condos, downtown, LeBreton Flats, Ottawa3 Comments

Spring Craning

Westsideaction

An interesting demonstration of evolving design came to west siders this week courtesy of our high rise developers. Better design is everywhere these days. For that we can credit the popularity of industrial design schools, increased awareness of graphic design elements, and the popularity of design-centric programs on TV and the ‘net. Now we can see it on our skyline by craning our necks. Up on Cathedral Hill, Windmill developments installed their crane for their new condo tower. It is the conventional design. Dare we call it the ‘old fashioned’ design? Notice the complicated support wires, the heavy concrete block … Continue reading Spring Craning

condos, design, hintonburg, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats, LRT, OLRT, ottawa river, Richmond road, Toronto1 Comment

Distilling Our Lady of the Condos – part ii

Westsideaction

Last winter, Domtar knocked down an elderly mill building on the Islands in the Ottawa River. Great consternation arose, as they did it Without Consulting the Bureaucrats. Priceless heritage lost! Like a dog with a bone, the media and planning pundits worried about the lost potential for a vibrant outdoorsy urban waterfront à la Granville Island or The Distillery in Toronto. Few people seemed to notice that Victoria Island is one of the windiest, coldest, bleakest spots in Ottawa, a far remove from sunny* Granville Island or the spirits factory in Toronto. Numerous calls were made for the Distillery Folks to come to … Continue reading Distilling Our Lady of the Condos – part ii

aquaduct, LeBreton Flats

Feelin’ drained on a hot summer day

Westsideaction

The aqueduct through LeBreton Flats is a sadly neglected city feature. The last time a maintenance crew did anything around there was just before all the politicians showed up to unveil the plaques declaring this an ever-so-valuable heritage site to be proud of. Then they all skedaddled, never to to be seen again. Alas, the plantings along the aqueduct are totally neglected, the trees mostly dead (even right beside a water supply !) and a few years ago the city decided to run a giant water pipe through the aqueduct water because it was cheap. Heritage smeritage. On Monday, the aqueduct … Continue reading Feelin’ drained on a hot summer day

Bayview-Carling CDP, Claridge, condos, Dalhousie, design, Dows Lake, housing policy, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats5 Comments

Future shape of high rises in Carling and Preston areas

Westsideaction

Preston Street is an odd mainstreet, in that it has minimal hinterland of dense residential development. Hintonburg’s and Westboro’s main street areas are more densely built up and have large catchment areas on all sides with a mix of low-rise and high-rise built form. Preston lost its eastern residential areas when 50’s urban renewal wiped out existing urban fabric to replace it with commuter office towers (NRCan), a commuter high school (Commerce, now Adult HS), and a commercial strip predicated on a city-wide market (the ethnic Italian community) rather than an indigenous market. Thus merchants champion converting housing to parking lots, and since the merchants rarely live in the neighborhood, might be more easily convinced of … Continue reading Future shape of high rises in Carling and Preston areas

Claridge, condos, design, housing policy, LeBreton Flats5 Comments

Owning the Podium

Westsideaction

Much of Ottawa’s current discussion about high rises focusses on the podium, or base of the building. In theory, the wider larger base is all the pedestrian sees, and the thin elegant glass tower floats off into the sky after a generous set back. Of course, this requires a fairly large lot or thin tower. What we increasingly see are small lot edifices, where either the tower is too fat for the base, or the podium effect is just sort of drawn onto the tower by a few horizontal bits of concrete trim. I stopped recently to look at the successfully done podium … Continue reading Owning the Podium

801 Albert, Albert St, Bayview, Bayview-Carling CDP, bike path, Dalhousie, design, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats, Uncategorized9 Comments

City’s tallest office towers proposed for west side

Westsideaction

Phoenix DCR is going to Council in August seeking rezoning of the parcel of land known as 801 Albert Street. They are proposing a 34 storey office tower; a 31 storey office tower, and a 7 storey office tower. Currently, the tallest office buildings in Ottawa are Place de Ville at 29 stories and Place Bell, both in the downtown core. The parcel of land they propose to build these on is right across Albert Street from the existing Bayview transit station and the adjacent OTrain station. The triangular parcel of land is immediately north of the 8 storey City … Continue reading City’s tallest office towers proposed for west side

Claridge, condos, Dalhousie, design, LeBreton Flats3 Comments

Height that you wish for …

Westsideaction

At public meetings and in media discussions about how high is high enough, a frequent lament heard goes something like “it would be alright over there [insert name of place far from the person making the comment], but not here.” For years, the Councillor and community groups working on the LeBreton Flats plans fought for an essentially low rise community. The final height limit for most of the buildings is seven stories (just like Paris !), with some towers on podiums extending to fourteen (not like Paris!).  The first phase, just built, has two towers on a very large seven story podium. … Continue reading Height that you wish for …

Claridge, condos, LeBreton Flats, Uncategorized8 Comments

When capitalists conspire …

Westsideaction

Last April, the Dalhousie Community Association, of which I was President at the time, held its AGM. Hard pressed to come up with speaker to trump the previous year’s John Doran of Domicile speaking on the economics of condo developments, I searched around for an interesting and educational speaker. Enter Ottawa Senators founder, engineer, professor of architecture, etc etc  Dr Bruce Firestone . He agreed to give a talk on urban redevelopment in older neighborhoods, good or bad. He sure doesn’t pull punches.  In fact, he referred to a certain yellow brick condo development as being akin to a brown substance … Continue reading When capitalists conspire …

Bayview, Bayview Otrain, Claridge, condos, design, DOTT, LeBreton Flats, LRT, NCC, O-Train6 Comments

The “Other” Iconic Station viewpoint that we lost

Westsideaction

The Confederation Square station entrance (or lack of one) is getting a lot of press.  Earlier, the proposed Rideau Station was straddling the underside of the Canal, with the east entrance coming up at the Rideau Centre and the west entrance coming up at Confederation Square. This was called the Rideau Street station as that was its primary market, and the main reason it was pushed eastward under the canal was the sharp southward curve the track took immediately upon leaving the Rideau Station heading towards Campus:   The prior plans showed the western end of the Rideau station platform connected to a long, fairly … Continue reading The “Other” Iconic Station viewpoint that we lost

Bayview, Claridge, condos, Dalhousie, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats, NCC, Uncategorized7 Comments

Firestone Prescribes (iii)

Westsideaction

I concur with Dr Firestone that Ottawa took its eye off the ball regarding the transitway. It always has money for road widenings and intersection “improvements” and new roads, and new bridges, but not enough for transitway extensions. Ask a city politician, and you get a dirge back about it’s the provinces or fed’s fault because they aren’t funding the transitway. Funny, the feds don’t fund a lot of stuff, but that doesn’t prevent the city from spending its own money. The City, IMO, has spending problems more than it has funding problems. I must say at this point that Prof Bruce is on … Continue reading Firestone Prescribes (iii)

Bayview, Cdn War Museum, condos, design, downtown, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats, parks, Uncategorized2 Comments

On a Clear Day, (Dead) Councillors can see forever …

Westsideaction

Back a few months ago when there was snow on the ground, I typically played around with it a bit when sent out to conduct my onerous shovelling obligations. For the first pass, I would make my six-foot-short sidewalk have perfectly vertical snowbanks on each side. Nice straight sides, looking like the whole bank was sculpted at once. A mini Corinthian Canal: Later, when the crisp edges started to blur, I would convert the sliced-through snowbanks into a gentle glaciated valley, with the sidewalk at the bottom and then the parabolic sides. This is a useful metaphor for Ottawa’s sight lines and view cones. There are a number … Continue reading On a Clear Day, (Dead) Councillors can see forever …

Bank Street, Bronson, downtown, LeBreton Flats5 Comments

City wins battle; Mayor losing the war

Westsideaction

Last night the City held a public meeting to tell residents all about the plans for Bronson. Well over a hundred people turned up. All were glum, and subdued. Resigned. Was I alone in sensing the seething resentment beating inside those winter coats? Recall that Bronson was widened from a street to a road back in the late 50’s. It was a bad road back then. And it only got worse. It’s bad for motorists. It’s bad for residents. It’s bad for landlords*. It’s bad for anyone who tries to walk along Bronson’s pathetic sidewalks. It’s life threateningly bad for … Continue reading City wins battle; Mayor losing the war

bike path, LeBreton Flats, NCC, pedestrians, Preston street3 Comments

Desire lines in the snow

Westsideaction

Pathways through fields tell us a lot about where people want to go. Frequently it is not where the planners or architects’ walkways want to take us. That’s because they usually make walkways accessories to buildings, following the same square lines. In the summer, paved walkways and roads hide the pedestrian record. But in winter, the size of the beaten path tells us how many people want to go somewhere. And if they want to go badly enough they will boldly go where no snow plow has gone before. [cut the Capt’n Kirk stuff –ed]. Let’s start off with the … Continue reading Desire lines in the snow

175 Richmond, beaver barracks, Claridge, condos, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats3 Comments

Real entrances or planner’s fakes?

Westsideaction

It is popular today that the base level of apartment buildings be visually separate from the tower above, through the use of a real three-dimensional podium, or too often in Ottawa: a drawn-on one. A further refinement is to have separate uses for the ground floor. On traditional main streets, this is usually commercial storefronts. The original Centretown plan required these on side streets too, which gives the area on both sides of Elgin such a unique atmosphere, as there are little storefronts, often with marginal businesses that cannot afford the increasingly-franchise-cluttered main street rents. Alas, what the Centretown plan cleverly called for, the … Continue reading Real entrances or planner’s fakes?

801 Albert, Bayview, Bayview Otrain, Bayview-Carling CDP, bike path, bikewest, City Centre, Claridge, Dalhousie, design, DOTT, hintonburg, infill, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats, LRT, NCC, O-Train, OLRT, ottawa river, Phoenix DCR Developments, Scott street, Transit, Uncategorized, Walnut Court, west wellington9 Comments

Sim-City model: Bayview-carling CDP

Westsideaction

The City has been sporadically doing up a CDP (Community Design Plan) (which is a plan of dubious effectiveness under the Official Plan) for the O-Train corridor running from Bayview Station to Carling Avenue. Residents frequently ascribe its tardiness to a desire on the part of the City to see all the developable land purchased and rezoned before the plan is drawn up. In that way, the city won’t have to continually amend it. The City is committed to having CDPs done for all the stations along the OLRT. Having seen some of the in-progress ones I’d have to say they are better than nothing.  At least they … Continue reading Sim-City model: Bayview-carling CDP

Dalhousie, design, dominican gardens, Elm Street, LeBreton Flats, LRT, parking, parks, Plouffe Park, Uncategorized5 Comments

Parks Planning (ii)

Westsideaction

Chaudiere Park is a well-used large-ish pocket park on Elm Street, between Rochester and Preston. It’s about 140′ along the street, and about 100′ deep. The park is dominated by a very large, very deep wading pool that delivers a freeze-your-bones-it’s-so-cold experience to kiddies for six weeks every summer. There is a large sandbox on the east; a basketball court on the west. The general impression is a sea of pavement. and Chaudiere Park on Elm is a newish location for the former Chaudiere Park on LeBreton Flats, which was relocated to Elm after the “slum clearance” expropriation in the 1960’s. As such, it deserves a proper park … Continue reading Parks Planning (ii)

Bayview, bike path, cycling in Ottawa, DOTT, LeBreton Flats, LRT, NCC, O-Train, OLRT, pedestrians, Richmond road, sidewalks11 Comments

How “secure” (or disruptive…) will the OLRT be?

Westsideaction

        We are in the process of replacing the transitway with LRT. In the Scott Street cut, this won’t matter much. But at either end of the cut, it matters a lot. The City is preaching two totally opposed messages on how the track will interact with the community.  On LeBreton Flats, they claim that anyone getting near the tracks will be imminent mortal danger so great that six foot high chain link fences will be constructed on both sides of the tracks. For pedestrian safety, of course. So there will be no crossing of the tracks through the Flats.  City staff … Continue reading How “secure” (or disruptive…) will the OLRT be?

beaver barracks, Claridge, condos, design, LeBreton Flats, Uncategorized11 Comments

What should go at street level? (part iii – more good)

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Continuing on the theme of what should go on the ground floor of new condo buildings in the downtown neighborhoods, it is easy to criticize the faults of what was built. But what about some examples of good stuff? It’s pretty easy on main streets: put in commercial space. The building is going to be there for a 100 years or more, the downtown neighborhoods are most likely to get busier, and such space will be in demand for much of the next century. Domicile’s Piccadilly building on West Wellington is pretty typical. It is currently two storefronts, but is doored and set … Continue reading What should go at street level? (part iii – more good)

City Hall, Claridge, condos, LeBreton Flats, parks4 Comments

Cheap, an oversight, or lack of oversight?

Westsideaction

Down on LeBreton Flats things are quieter right now. The music concert season is drawing to a close (did you notice, the HoDown patrons were much better dressed than the Bluesfest patrons? Cowboy boots, hot pants, checkered shirts, and straw cowboy hats….hee hah!). Claridge is finishing up his current building, but not yet started its next bunch. You can actually hear the birds chirp, and see them flitting from stunted popular tree to stunted shrub amongst the bomb-crater landscape that typifies much of the Flats. Claridge builds the condos, and landscapes their grounds. He then landscapes the “public parkland” space along the new bike … Continue reading Cheap, an oversight, or lack of oversight?

bike path, Claridge, condos, cycling in Ottawa, design, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats7 Comments

End of the Yellow Brick road, err buildings

Westsideaction

The NCC wanted a different look and feel for the LeBreton neighborhood. They wanted a neighborhood that was distinctive. To this end they chose a particular palate of colours that all bidders had to employ. Predominate in this palate was yellow brick. It was always in the plan that as the buildings approached the south edge (I thought they meant Albert Street…) they would become two tone brick, employing the traditional red brick common to the older neighborhoods, to form a transition zone. I am not sure whether the lack of enthusiasm for the look of the recently constructed condos comes … Continue reading End of the Yellow Brick road, err buildings

cycling in Ottawa, design, Elm Street, LeBreton Flats, parks, plant recreation centre, Plouffe Park, Primrose, surface water, Uncategorized8 Comments

Waterparks in the City

Westsideaction

Dufferin Park in Toronto is justifiably well known for its innovative features. The boy on the left (picture, above) is by the spigot that flows water into this large sand lot, complete with oversize logs that seem perfect to stimulate little imaginations while containing the mess and providing bum rests for parents. Can’t you just hear Ottawa park bureaucrats commenting on the “safety” of that big log bridge? (shown above) Actually, watching the baby crawl up out of the ditch was hilarious and inspiring. The Dufferin Park neighborhood and adjacent Trinity Bellwoods neighborhoods appear to me to be in the “Glebe” level of affluence. A number of … Continue reading Waterparks in the City

Claridge, condos, LeBreton Flats3 Comments

Birth of a street

Westsideaction

In neighbourhoods such as ours, in established urban areas, new streets seldom spring up. In Orleans, Kanata, or Barrhaven they sprout up like dandelions. Every time I go out to those suburbs… everything has changed, new streets, new big box plazas… I live on the edge of the LeBreton Flats, and have seen several new streets appear. First was Walnut Court, in the 1980’s. On LeBreton Flats another new public street is being gestated. It has no name on the stake. It is being surveyed and built to allow access to the next condo Claridge is building on the Flats, a bit south … Continue reading Birth of a street

Claridge, condos, cycling in Ottawa, design, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats, Uncategorized3 Comments

Pooley’s Bridge quietly re-opened

Westsideaction

  Above: a pic of Polley’s Bridge as seen from Fleet Street, beside the new Claridge condos on leBreton Flats. The City closed the Bridge  for several years as Claridge used Fleet as a construction staging site for the new condos. Then in June last year, it became possible to cross the bridge going west provided you were willing to follow a narrow goat trail along the tailrace, skirting the construction site for the yellow-brick tower, to join the path built two years ago at the base of the first part of the building. Much more promptly this year, Claridge has … Continue reading Pooley’s Bridge quietly re-opened

Albert St, aquaduct, bike path, Booth St, Claridge, condos, design, DOTT, Fleet Street, LeBreton Flats, LRT, OLRT, Preston street6 Comments

LRT Stations (part iv) LeBreton

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There is currently a bus transitway station at LeBreton Flats. The proposed LRT station is essentially at the same location, except it extends further west under Booth Street and is a few feet south of the current station, allowing room for landscaping and breathing space between it and the aqueduct. On the aerial photo above, note also the pedestrian crossing of the aqueduct off to the left side of the picture, this is the old Broad Street right of way and ped bridge. The site analysis drawing, above, shows the proximity of the current LeBreton residential neighborhood. Blue arrows show view planes, but both are rather curiously … Continue reading LRT Stations (part iv) LeBreton